He let out a breath of relief.
He put Lily on the phone. She babbled at me for a few minutes, and then they said goodnight.
Over the days that followed, Herman didn't come home. He didn't call. He didn't send a single message.
Herbert stopped showing up to class.
The principal received a parent complaint alleging that I lacked professional conduct as a teacher. My pay was docked. On top of that, I was assigned several days of mandatory training shifts, a full notebook of class observation reports due each day, plus a handwritten copy of the entire faculty code of conduct.
I knew exactly who was behind it.
When the last day of that punishment finally ended, I could breathe again.
With trembling, swollen fingers, I opened Janet Hayward's social media.
One week. The amusement park, home, tutoring classes, the movies.
A happy little family of three, picture-perfect and warm.
And in that moment, I knew with absolute clarity that it was time to end it all.
I prepared everything: the bank card with the engagement fund, the paternity test results, my medical report, and the surveillance audio from the school on parent-teacher conference day.